About the Exhibition

As a special exhibition marking its 10th anniversary, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa is collaborating with the Centre Pompidou (Paris) in holding exhibition of post-war Japanese architecture, “Japan Architects 1945-2010” taking the Centre Pompidou’s collection of works and materials as a core.

Mr. Migayrou has divided the 65-year period from 1945 to 2010 into six sections and color-coded each section’s concept. His compelling vantage point on post-war Japanese architecture will be another exhibition highlight.

Architects played a major role in Japan’s national project of reconstructing from the ruins of war. Adhering to the principles of modernism or, in some cases, pursing an essentially Japanese style, they designed and constructed public facilities and buildings of all kinds. As they did so, the architects gradually expanded their focus from architecture to urban design, and in the 1960s, the architectural movement “Metabolism” was born, impelled by new economic and technological development. This movement reached its apogee at the 1970 Osaka Exposition and thereafter diversified, further evolved, and formed a new vision. A younger generation of architects inherited its aims, but already a minimalist style of architecture—what might be called “architecture of elimination”—was sweeping the nation. Then, in the late 1990s, after the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy and the Kobe Earthquake, works appeared that re-examined architecture from the perspectives of “narrative” and “program,” and many Japanese architects rose to international acclaim.
This exhibition offers a precious opportunity to follow the tracks of the Japanese architects who, swinging between Western modernism and Japanese identity, created their own style and vision and garnered international attention. The great number of works and materials—over 240 original drawings and models by some 80 architects who spear-headed the development of post-war Japanese architecture—are invaluable tools for understanding these architects’ conceptual and design processes. All together, they form an architecture exhibition of a scale never before seen in Japan. It is an exhibition of importance—not only for the light it casts on architectural history but also for the deep insight it offers into Japan’s rapidly changing post-war society.

Date/time: Friday 20 February 2015 18:30-20:30
Venue: Theater 21, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Capacity: First 120 arrivals (advanced application required)
Admission: Free
Application: Applications will be taken from Wednesday 10 November at 10:00 on a special museum website
(first-come first-served).
*Details about applying will be announced on the website on Wednesday 11 November

General Commissioner

Frédéric Migayrou

Deputy Director, Pompidou Centre, National Museum of Modern Art / Chair, Bartlett Professor of Architecture, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, University of London.
He is one of the founder of the Collection of FRAC Région centre and presides over Archi Lab. He curated several major exhibitions, "Non Standard Architecture" (2003) "Morphosis" (2006) "Dominique Perrault" (2008) "Mondrian / De Stijl" (2010) "La Tendenza" (2012) "Bernard Tschumi" (2014) "Frank Gehry" (2014) in Pompidou Center and "Archi Lab 2013" in FRAC Région centre. He also supervises and writes many texts and lectures related to architecture.

Space design

Japan’s architecture, forever in danger of destruction or beset by demands for change, stands on impermanent ground. In “Section 1: Black,” architect Ryoji Suzuki uses architectural fragments from the collection of Tsutomu Ichiki—compiled by Ichiki during 40 years—to evoke a culture that ceaselessly undergoes destruction and rebirth, and its traditions of shadow or darkness.

Section 2: Dark Gray
Vision of cities and national land

A new architectural vernacular obtained from the systematic use of concrete gave form to numerous public buildings, such as city halls and cultural and educational facilities, and inspired a vision for building the city and nation in a humanistic dimension. The experimental designs of this period laid a foundation for a new Japanese architecture in the post-war period, and gradually, Japanese architecture achieved recognition on the international stage.

Section 3: Light Gray
New Japanese architecture

Riding on the back of rapid economic expansion and high-level industrial development, large construction companies constructed myriad buildings, and urbanization spread throughout Japan. In this era, the international style also arrived in Japan, and architects yearned to craft a new modernity. Meanwhile, architects seeking an essentially Japanese architecture also appeared.

Section 4: Color
Metabolism and new vision

In the 1960s, architects discovered new potential in industrial technology and the advent of new materials, and the movement “Metabolism” formed and gave Japanese architecture a fundamental identity. This movement reached its apogee in the experimental pavilions, constructed for Expo ’70, that announced Japan’s new, highly technological architecture and became the nation’s manifesto to the world.
Meanwhile, architectural research that was critical of industrial development also appeared, along with an array of new architectural visions, such as Pop architecture, criticism of modernism, media architecture, architecture as image, and architecture as icon.

Section 5: Non-color
Architecture of disappearance

After the political turmoil of around 1970, a new generation of architects appeared who broke away from architecture that valued technology and idealistic optimism in an industrial society. Their minimalist architecture, founded on a return to geometric form, gained momentum as “light architecture” that eliminated structure, and it ultimately reached completion as “eliminative architecture.” The international acclaim won by these architects gave momentum to the next generation of architects.

Section 6: White
From reduction to a narrative

By the 1990s, Japanese architecture was regarded as one of the world’s most important stages for architectural activity. Many Japanese architects undertook international projects and embarked on international careers. The past decade has seen new architectural programs that reintroduce organic functions in the city and projects of “narrative architecture” that regress to concept. Narratives concerning architecture’s relationship with nature and society are woven using different methods, in each case, so as to tell a unique and compelling story.